• Backing Barack
• Larry Burriss Commentary
  

1. Former Mississippi Governor Ray Mabus (MAY-bus) spoke to students at MTSU today (Friday) about the reasons he's backing Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. Mabus doesn't find Obama's relative lack of inside-the-beltway political experience to be a handicap. In fact, he says, if you let experience be your guide, you'll just get more of the same kind of leadership America has had for the past seven-and-a-half years.

mabus1.mp3 :17 OC: "I think you are";

Mabus endorsed Obama in May of last year. He says he thinks Obama not only will bring thousands of previously uninspired voters into the process, but the Illinois Senator also will make it impossible for the Republican Party to ignore the South.

2. An advocate for U.S. Senator Barack Obama's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination made his case today (Friday) before a group of students at MTSU. Former Mississippi Governor Ray Mabus (MAY-bus) urged the young prospective voters several times to make it to the polls on Super Tuesday and vote. Mabus, who made education reform the hallmark of his tenure as governor, says Obama's education policy appeals to him for several reasons.

mabus2.mp3 :16 OC: "to go to college"; (2x)

To the question of Obama's relative lack of experience, Mabus points out that Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln also held elective office for rather brief periods of time before they were elected president of the United States.

3. With Super Tuesday looming on the political horizon and Tennessee one of 22 states where primary elections will be held, a key supporter of Barack Obama made his pitch today (Friday) before students at MTSU. Former Mississippi Governor Ray Mabus (MAY-bus), a member of the Illinois Senator's campaign advisory board, says attacks that have been leveled against Obama for his name and his unique ethnic heritage only serve to affirm his choice.

mabus3.mp3 :11 OC: "to destroy them";

Mabus told the audience what he called "artificial divisions"; that have cropped up in American politics in recent years have ripped at the fabric of our society, and Obama is determined not to run that kind of campaign.

4. A key member of U.S. Senator Barack Obama's advisory board visited MTSU today (Friday) to encourage students to go to the polls on Super Tuesday. Former Mississippi Governor Ray Mabus (MAY-bus), who also is a former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, says having a president who actually has lived overseas would make a positive difference.

mabus4.mp3 :17 OC: "us a whole lot";

Mabus says foreign policy under an Obama presidency would engage the rest of the world rather than stiffarm the rest of the world. He also says just having the son of an African as the face of American foreign policy would send a message to the rest of the world.

STATIONS: THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY BEGINS WITH A 3-2-1 COUNTDOWN.

5. With all the revolutionary changes in audio technology that have occurred in recent years, there is still something to be said for certain old formats. That's the view of Dr. Larry Burriss, MTSU journalism professor and First Amendment expert, who says in his latest media commentary that, in some ways, an LP is superior to a CD.

080128 LP-CD 2:37 OC: "I'm Larry Burriss"